PASTORAL LETTER OF BISHOP CORMAC MURPHY-O'CONNOR
To be read at all Masses
ON THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT, 1996
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"Looking towards the Year 2000" are the words that are at the beginning of our Diocesan Vision Statement. You will remember that we are seeking to 'deepen our understanding, our celebration and our witness of what it means to be Christ in our World'. That is what the Church is and what the Church is called to be and our preparation for the great anniversary of Christ's entry into our world should help us make the Vision more of a reality. At the present time we are focusing on one aspect of being Christ in our world , namely, being "Partners in Service". The Summer School this year introduced many people to this theme and each parish is being asked to consider practical ways in which partnership in the parish, with our fellow-Christians, and with the local community, can be made a reality.
Our own Diocesan preparation for the year 2000 is given greater emphasis and urgency by the letter of Pope John Paul II on the preparation for the Millennium Jubilee. The Pope reminds us that to be Christ in our world means that we turn to the Incarnation, to the very roots of our faith and to the re-discovery of the riches and power of Christ's love that renews us all. The Pope also reminds us that the Millennium is a Christian celebration which we share with all our fellow-Christians. He reminds us that we should "invoke the Holy Spirit with ever greater insistence, imploring the grace of Christian unity". We need to take more seriously the importance of our partnership with other Christians and the need to pray and work for the healing of the divisions of the last thousand years in the Christian family.
We are also being reminded that as we prepare for the year 2000 we should place the needs of the poor at the centre of all we do and to rededicate ourselves in a practical way on their behalf. CAFOD, the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development, is helping us with useful material and, in particular, with a challenge to make a new covenant with the poor, imitating God's covenant with his people.
But all preparation for the year 2000 begins in our own families, in our own parishes, in our own hearts. 'Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight', says the Prophet Isaiah today. There is no substitute for each one of us to be more open to the Heart of Jesus and his Good News of salvation. Our journey of faith with Christ is a deepening process of conversion and renewal and this involves prayer and sacrifice. How can I fail to remind you, yet again, to deepen your spirit of prayer in your daily life and to focus on the living presence of Jesus Christ who is "sole Saviour of the world, yesterday, today and for ever"? At the heart of our prayer is a renewed understanding of the Incarnation of Jesus and of what his coming into the world means for each one of us.
As I come to the end of this message I want to suggest to each of you that we become truly familiar with an age-old prayer of the Church which helps us to focus on the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, namely, the Angelus, so called because it begins with the words, "The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.". I would like all parishes, at some suitable times, to become familiar with this Angelus Prayer in which we ask the prayers of Mary the Mother of Jesus to help us to deepen our understanding of the mystery of the Incarnation. I have asked that the celebrant leads you now in the recitation of the Angelus.
May I express to you all my warmest good wishes and prayers for a happy Christmas and a fruitful and holy New Year.
Yours devotedly in Christ, ![[Unknown]](/NR/rdonlyres/A48AF666-CBFE-4BFD-96FF-AA87210CA0EB/0/bish_sig.gif)
Rt. Rev. Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
Bishop of Arundel and Brighton.
THE ANGELUS:
The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,
And she conceived by the Holy Spirit;
Hail Mary ....
Behold the handmaid of the Lord
Be it done unto me according to your word;
Hail Mary.....
And the Word was made flesh
And dwelt among us;
Hail Mary....
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ
Let us pray:
Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts
that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son
was madeknown by the message of an Angel
may by his passion and cross
be brought to the glory of his resurrection,
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
